Event ID 1003 — DNS Server Root Hints Configuration

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Root hints are the names and addresses of servers that are authoritative for the root zone of the Domain Name System (DNS) namespace. Root hints can be used for resolving external names, such as the names of Internet host computers.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 1003
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Server-Service
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: DNS_EVENT_CACHE_FILE_NOT_FOUND
Message: The DNS server could not find or open the root hints file, Cache.dns, in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Dns directory. Verify that this file is located in this directory and that it contains at least one name server (NS) resource record, indicating a root DNS server and a corresponding host (A) resource record for that server. For more information, see the online Help.

Resolve

Configure root hints

Every DNS server in your network must be configured with the address of at least one root server. Otherwise, the DNS server will not be able to resolve queries for names outside the zones for which it is authoritative.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To configure a DNS server's root hints:

  1. On the DNS server, start Server Manager. To start Server Manager, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.
  2. In the console tree, expand Roles, expand DNS Server, and then expand DNS.
  3. Right-click the server, click Properties, and then click the Root Hints tab.
  4. Depending on whether you can copy root hints from another DNS server, do one of the following:
    • Click Copy from Server, type the IP address or DNS name of a DNS server from which you can copy root hints, and then click OK.
    • Click Add, and then for each server you want to add to the list, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the server, and then click Resolve.

Verify

To verify a DNS server's root hints:

  1. On the DNS server, start Server Manager. To start Server Manager, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.
  2. In the console tree, expand Roles, expand DNS Server, and then expand DNS.
  3. Right-click the server, click Properties, and then click the Root Hints tab.

The Name servers list should contain at least one server name.

DNS Server Root Hints Configuration

DNS Infrastructure